A wide variety of video recorders are available in the marketplace. Most people own, or are familiar with, a video cassette recorder (VCR), also referred to as a video tape recorder (VTR). A video cassette recorder records video programs on magnetic cassette tapes. More recently, video recorders have appeared in the market that use computer magnetic hard disks rather than magnetic cassette tapes to store video programs. For example, the ReplayTV™ recorder and the TiVO™ recorder digitally record television programs on hard disk drives using, for example, an MPEG video compression standard. Additionally, some video recorders may record on a readable/writable, digital versatile disk (DVD) rather than a magnetic disk.
The widespread use of video recorders has generated and continues to generate large volumes of videotaped materials. Because a video recorder captures both video signals and audio signals, videotaped materials are multimedia materials. A number of different types of automatic computerized systems and methods have been developed for analyzing, identifying, and selecting multimedia materials.
The automatic computerized systems and methods that exist for analyzing multimedia materials are generally capable of identifying segments of a video program that contain topics identified by a user. The desired segments are usually identified based upon search words that the user provides to the system.
An automatic computerized multimedia retrieval system that allows users to identify and select portions of multimedia materials usually meets three requirements. First, a system and method is usually available for parsing a video signal into its video, audio, and text components. Second, a system and method is usually available for analyzing the content of the video, audio, and text components of the multimedia signal with respect to user input criteria and segmenting the components based on content. Third, a system and method is usually available for integrating and storing program segments that match the user's search criteria.
A system that meets these requirements is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6/363,380 filed Jan. 13, 1998 by Dimitrova et al. entitled “Multimedia Computer System with Story Segmentation Capability and Operating Program Therefor Including Finite Automaton Video Parser.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/006,657 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,380 is hereby incorporated herein by reference within this document for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/006,657 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,380 describes a system and method that provides a set of models for recognizing a sequence of symbols, a matching model that identifies desired selection criteria, and a methodology for selecting and retrieving one or more video story segments or sequences based upon the selection criteria.
Another system that meets these requirements is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/442,960 filed Nov. 18, 1999 by Dimitrova et al. entitled “Method and Apparatus for Audio/Data/Visual Information Selection.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/442,960 is hereby incorporated herein by reference within this document for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
“Metadata” is information that identifies certain features of the multimedia programs that are transmitted in a multimedia signal. For example, a television signal may also transmit an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) that contains metadata information concerning the television programs transmitted in the television signal. The EPG metadata may include the title of a program, the time the program is to be transmitted, an identification of the type of program, the names of persons who appear in the program, the parental guidance rating of the program, and other similar types of information.
Prior art systems exist that are capable of conducting program searches on metadata text information. One type of prior art system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,565 issued to Legall et al. on Dec. 21, 1999 entitled “Integrated Search of Electronic Program Guide, Internet and Other Information Resources.” Another type of prior art system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,631 issued to Anderson et al. on Dec. 21, 1999 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Organizing and Searching An Electronic Program Guide.”
Prior art systems generally compare user selected search words with words contained within the metadata information. This type of search requires an identical match of a search word with a series of symbols (known as a “string”) within the metadata text.
The search results of prior art metadata search systems generally comprise a list of search result programs. A search result program is one in which a match was found between a search word and a metadata word. The search result list of programs may contain so many programs that it is not feasible to view or to record all of the programs. The “exact match” criterion of prior art metadata search systems does not allow sufficient flexibility for a search to be conducted that recognizes a word that does not exactly match a search word.
There is therefore a need for an improved apparatus and method for conducting metadata searches to identify and select multimedia programs using more flexible user selection criteria.